2024 Toyota Land Cruiser 250 Revealed: Smaller And More Efficient Without Off-road Compromise

Toyota has just revealed the new Land Cruiser Prado, now dubbed as the Land Cruiser 250. It’s a light duty series of the iconic nameplate, which aims to capture the essence of the original Land Cruiser. It definitely manages to do so with its styling, but there’s a lot that goes beyond that. 

The boxy styling of the Land Cruiser 250 is a blend of modern and retro cues. And even though it still looks humongous, it has always been smaller than the LC300 and continues to be so, as its 4925mm long, 1980mm wide and 1870mm tall. That said, it’s a bit larger than the previous-gen Prado.

The rectangular styling cues are apparent through its design. In fact, eagle-eyed readers will notice some similarities with the Lexus GX, especially the similar window line which tapers towards the rear. The beefed-up wheel arches are chunky to say the least. The upright design continues at the rear and so do the squarish cues that can be seen in its taillights. 

On the inside, Toyota says it has “shifted from a high-end, luxury ambiance to the feeling of true off-road functionality.’’ Now we don’t doubt the functionality of this very black cabin, and it’s still quite luxurious too. You’ve got two 12.3-inch screens making up the infotainment and driver’s display. The steering looks chunky – apt for an offroader – and the flanking AC vents are circular, while the ones in the middle are sleek and rectangular. 

The centre console layout is simple and functional, with a few buttons for various functions and two cup holders. There are physical controls for all the important functions, easier to operate on the move and even if you’re wearing, say, off-roading gloves. You also get a nice little toggle switch for changing between 4-low and 4-high. 

The Toyota Land Cruiser 250 gets a bunch of market-specific powertrains. So there’s a 2.4-litre turbo-petrol hybrid, a 2.4-litre turbo-petrol, a 2.8-litre diesel mild hybrid, a 2.8-litre diesel, and a 2.7-litre petrol powertrain to choose from. Power outputs range between 163PS/246Nm (base-spec) to 330PS/630Nm for the turbo-hybrid powertrain. Both the 2.4-litre petrol strong-hybrid and 2.8-litre diesel mild-hybrid powertrains are new for the Prado nameplate, and mark the beginning of electrification in its powertrains.

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Save for the base-spec powertrain which gets a 6-speed automatic, all other powertrains are geared using an 8-speed automatic transmission.

It won’t lack off-roading capabilities either, as the 250 shares the same GA-F platform as the 300 Series, and we already know how proficient the latter is. Moreover, Toyota claims to have achieved a 50 percent increase in frame rigidity and 30 percent increase in overall rigidity, which should further help in aiding its dynamics, both on- and off-road. So it doesn’t seem like the Land Cruiser 250 has lost the plot in that sense. If anything, it is actually closer to its origins than ever before.

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The Toyota Land Cruiser 250 slots below the LC300 in the Land Cruiser lineup. We already get the latter in the country, so it would only make sense for Toyota to bring the more affordable iteration to our shores as well, which was on offer before in its older generation. It’ll offer a off-road oriented alternative to the likes of the Range Rover Velar, Mercedes-Benz GLC, BMW X3, and Audi Q5.